Posts Tagged ‘military’

Marching Toward Swine Flu

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

As if the march toward a police state in America isn’t happening quickly enough, now the scare of a pandemic, swine flu, has the military desiring to use troops on US soil in the event.

Considering how poorly the aftermath of hurricane Katrina was handled, I have a difficult time believing an actual outbreak will be dealt with any more efficiently or any more politely. People were forced out of their homes, even when they were not in danger. People had their weapons confiscated so that they couldn’t defend themselves. Troops patrolled the streets like it was a war zone.

None of this report mentions military physicians, just military personnel. That means that there are those in government planning for one or more of the following; forced vaccinations, forced quarantine, forced relocation, quelling civil disorder (possibly including weapon confiscation) and even full scale martial law.

Why do I use the word “forced” here? Because that’s all the military does, is use force. That’s what the military is designed to do. There is no respect for the Constitution, no respect for local laws, just military power and authority. While I’m absolutely certain that there are those in the military who take their oath seriously and would refuse unethical orders given, there are just as many who would follow any order, due to their indoctrination to the military programming of behavior. That can lead to a very dangerous situation and violation our liberties.

When the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act was signed into law in 2007, Posse Comitatus, the prohibition of using military force within the US for local law enforcement, was erroded. Sanity eventual returned in 2008, when this portion of the JWNDAA was repealed. If the military goes through with this plan, they will be doing so in direct violation of Posse Comitatus. There’s no need for it, either. The National Guard has long been exempt from Posse Comitatus, when called up by a state governor. If a situation arises where military personnel are needed, the Guard can handle it. It’s part of their designed duty and their training.

In any case, something bad is afoot if the government is even entertaining this idea. I also find it quite interesting how the press continues to hype up the case for a major pandemic in the fall, as if the government has had any success in predicting disease outbreaks of any kind. Why the certainty?

There are more questions than answers in the whole affair.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Political | No Comments »

Atheists in Foxholes

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

I’ve been asleep at the wheel over this story and wasn’t even aware it was going on until I stumbled onto a broadcast this morning on CBS, covering the story of Spc. Jeremy Hall.

Hall, like myself and others who deal with the empirical, just happens to be atheist because of this view of the world and such has gotten him into a world of hurt from his own associates in the military. As Hall’s lawsuit against the Department of Defense stipulates, he is being harassed and threatened with physical injury and death by many members of the military, who have come to conclude that the US military is a body of the church. All he’s asking for is equal respect for his beliefs. What he’s gotten so far is a round the clock body guard and the aid of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation in his lawsuit. The MRFF press release sums up the current situation.

Austin Cline writes further on the egregious action, where Spc. Hall had gone through all the proper channels to attempt to hold a meeting of like minded individuals at the fort where he was stationed at the time in Iraq, which was sabotaged by an attending Maj. Freddy Welborn. Welborn had described himself as a “freethinker” but ended up instead berating the others at the meeting and said that he would charge Hall with violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice and prevent his reenlistment.

Now, if Spc. Hall had only seen the Major’s MySpace page, he would have known the sabotage was coming before it did.

The most obvious risk in this environment, would be instilling a sense in our soldiers that we’re fighting a “holy war”. Pitting faith against faith, in this case Christianity against Islam, would do nothing but further Islamic distrust and hatred toward our forces, as our already untenable position becomes a new crusade. I can predict no good will come from delusional religionists pushing their distorted view of the Apocalypse onto impressionable youth (most of the military, that is). Knowing the Bush administration and it’s connections to Christian fundamentalism, I highly doubt anything is being done to slow this process down, but rather – like torture – they will promote it as being part of the general good and needed to face the “dangers” against our nation. Ludicrous, but predictable.

Like all things in history, what goes around comes around. As a recent documentary points out, we are back to the days of Constantine.

CNN covers more of this story. TruthOut has an interesting story on Christian fundamentalism in the military.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Political, Religion | No Comments »